Main menu

Post navigation

Halluc II, a robotic vehicle with eight wheels

Researchers at Chiba Institute of Technology, unveiled a prototype of Halluc II project, a robotic vehicle with eight wheels and legs designed to drive or walk over rugged terrain. You can move sideways, turn in place and drive or walk on a wide range of obstacles. The researchers hope is that the capabilities of the robot help with rescue operations, and also consider Halluc II technology for use in transporting mobility-impaired.

The operator can put Halluc II in one of three modes depending on the field: Type of vehicle, insect or animal. In vehicle mode, Halluc II with eight driving wheels, but as it moves over uneven surfaces, each leg moves up or down. In insect mode, Halluc II does not use wheels, instead, walk with insect, with your legs extended outward from the phone. The way animal Halluc II keeps her legs directly under himself while walking, allowing it to move through tight spaces. With wireless capabilities, a system of cameras and sensors that monitor the distance to potential obstacles, constantly Halluc II determines which is the best possible way to adjust the position of its legs and wheels.

Halluc II’s design calls for a total of 56 motors — 2 for each leg joint (3 joints per leg), plus 1 for each wheel. Equipping each joint with 2 motors provides the legs with abundant power and allows for a smoother ride, say the researchers, who have devoted a great deal of attention to the cutting-edge multi-motor control system, a key component of Halluc II’s design.

According to Mr. Yoshida, chief researcher at Chiba Institute of Technology’s Future Robotics Technology Center (fuRo), the expensive price tag of high-precision motors poses some challenges, but as costs come down in the future, it will become easier to incorporate greater numbers of motors into drive systems. Halluc II appears to be a more advanced version of fuRo’s 8-wheeled Hallucigenia01 robot created in 2003.

Director of Huruta Takayuki Chiba Institute of Technology Future Robotics Technology Center is the intention of developing “high-precision motors at present prices is expensive, cheaper if the future will be able to easily navigate the system using the multi-motor” explained. Appealed to leading edge technology to develop a multi-motor control. “Halluc II” was developed in collaboration with industrial designer Shunji Yamanaka. Yamanaka said, “The man has a lot of muscle, there is freedom of all. The redundancy can also make the car features, or can be flexible, move, or quickly, even if failures continue moving or that “and said the possibility.

Japan’s Tokyo Odaiba Miraikan, August 1, 2007 “Halluc II” to start the exhibition. Are available for the pilot’s cockpit, 160cm in diameter can be manipulated from a robot while watching the video is projected onto a hemispherical screen. Control device, the haptic force-feedback with (of Force Feedback), and the device and can control the shock experienced by the robot

In designing Halluc II, the researchers have enlisted the help of renowned industrial designer Shunji Yamanaka, who has worked on everything from furniture and watches to robots and transportation. “Human beings have a large number of muscles, which allows for a great degree of freedom,” says Yamanaka. “By incorporating greater redundancy into the vehicle’s functions, we can give it more flexibility and speed and enable it to continue operating even when obstacles are in the way.”

The Halluc II prototype is scheduled to go on display at Miraikan in Tokyo beginning August 1. At the exhibit, visitors will be allowed to operate the vehicle from a remote-control cockpit with a large screen showing real-time video shot from the onboard camera